Monday, October 26, 2009

This week we're tackling a touchy subject: Happy Hardcore. This genre, defined by its fast tempo, stompy drums, and aggressively optimistic piano rave melodies, is perhaps one of the most maligned genres ever. Much like disco, it's trashed mostly out of ignorance and/or the fear of appearing "girly".REAL TALK: happy hardcore grew out of UK rave at the same time as jungle, and was really delightful for the first few years of its existence. It then went on a SEVERE downward slide, losing a lot of the original rave/jungle elements that made it so great—this really awful later-era cheeseball stuff is the reason for happy hardcore's bad rap. I still stand by the tunes that came out in 1993-1997, and I plan on featuring them in a few mixes over the course of the year. The first is a bunch of tunes from '94.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Ten weeks ago, I made a mixtape of classic 1990s vocal house tunes. In my little introductory blurb, I wrote the following:

"Oh, and before you mention it, here's what I have NOT included: What is Love, Rhythm is a Dancer, Another Night, For What You Dream Of, Mr. Vain, Strike It Up, Be My Lover, The Vengabus, or Barbie Girl. That is not house music. I love it, but it is not house music. Another day, another tape."

Monday, October 12, 2009

So yesterday was National Coming Out Day in America, which for you foreign readers is exactly what it sounds like—a day for closeted homosexuals to tell their friends, family, coworkers, etc. In honor of that, I've made a mixtape of really gay music. To clarify, when I say "really gay music" I don't mean "music by gay artists" or "effiminate music" or "campy music"...I mean music that specifically and explicitly deals with homosexuality. Some of these songs are slutty, cynical homages to promiscuous sex, poppers, and sweaty all-night dance parties; some are campy boys' night out anthems that will make most laugh and a few squirm; others are stunningly heartfelt works about the pain and tenderness of living as an outcast.A quick word about that latter category:Regardless of our ethnicity, creed, or background, it is nearly impossible for us heterosexuals to understand the casual cruelty that is inflicted daily on homosexual men and women, not just by strangers but by friends and family, both purposefully and unwittingly. It is a difficult life filled with tough choices, frequent disappointment, and the potential for great loneliness. Of course it's worse in Idaho or Jamaica or Iran than it is in London or San Francisco or Amsterdam, but being born gay and having to deal with the resulting social circumstances is a shitty hand to draw, wherever you're from. Let's use the recent holiday as a reminder to show a little compassion—not just today, and not just to openly gay people, but year-round and to everyone.Anything less than that would be totally gay.

Monday, October 5, 2009

It's come to my attention that a lot of people still aren't up on Kraftwerk. This group of steely Germans was the most important and influential mainland European music act of the 20th century, period. (I am prepared to go to the mat over this statement.) Without them, there would be no techno, no synth pop, no new wave, and most importantly NO HIP-HOP. Just take a moment to imagine how different the world would be with no hip hop.

...

Ok so now that you're done with that little mental exercise, I know a fair chunk of you (those who aren't already familiar with the story) are like "WAIT A SECOND CHRISSY, what the hell do a bunch of square-ass Teutonic stiffs have to do with hip hop?" Well here's the short version:Square-ass Teutonic stiffs start out as proggy art-rock band, get into electronics, start making their own instruments and by 1974 are making super-rigid 100% electronic pop tunes. By 1977, said pop tunes have been picked up by New York disco DJs, who were always hunting for something new and different and odd and pulsating and yadda yadda yadda. Among these were the first wave of hip hop DJs (Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, etc.), who absolutely ate the stuff up. As Detroit techno legend Carl Craig said, "Kraftwerk were so stiff, they were funky."

So thanks to Kraftwerk (and others, don't get me wrong), you suddenly had a sea-change in the then-fledgling hip hop scene: things moved away from party raps over disco records, and toward sparse futuristic compositions made from scratch with drum machines, synths, and samplers. 30 years later, and mainstream hip hop still sounds like it has more in common with Kraftwerk than anything black or American (besides techno, of course).

It's a similar story with techno, in fact—as well as with synth pop, new wave, and a long list of other genres: disco + Kraftwerk = bizarre new hybrid genre with lots of crazy electronic gadgets and a bunch of futuristic posturing. Like many artists lucky enough to have a nearly 40-year career, Kraftwerk have had an interesting career arc: they've gone from being groundbreaking visionaries who changed modern music to largely mimicking the new styles they helped inspire. While their new records can't be called innovative, they're often still quite good.

Anyway, I've whipped up a mix which I hope will appeal to both hardcore Kraftwerk fans, people who hate Kraftwerk, and people who know nothing about Kraftwerk. Part one contains most of the really essential Kraftwerk tunes: the stuff you NEED to hear to be a culturally literate citizen of the 21st century. The second part is all the stuff that has borrowed from Kraftwerk. Some of it is good, some of it is terrible, all of it is beyond what these four Germans could've imagined in 1977.Chrissy Murderbot's Year of Mixtapes Week 19, Part 1: What you absolutely must know of Kraftwerk.